THE HIGHLANDER IS ALL THAT by Sabrina York
SMP Swerve
Publication Date: October 10, 2017
ISBN: 9781250147363; Price: $3.99
Description:
Elizabeth St. Claire has always been hard to please. Dreaming solely of Highlander men her whole life, no prancing London Lord can stand a chance at winning her heart…
… But perhaps a Scotsman can.
Elizabeth watches intrigued as the Highlander of her dreams, a Scotsman named Hamish Robb, arrives to oversee her season at the behest of her cousin, the Duke of Caithness. Elizabeth doesn’t hide her feelings for the striking Scot. But Hamish, determined to obey his order to protect the St. Claire sisters, steadfastly rejects her every seducing lure.
Believing that the debutante Elizabeth deserves a better, wealthier man, Hamish continues to turn away from her affection, even though he doesn’t exactly want to. Can this Highlander Scot resist the tempting seductress’ attempts to win his heart?
Author Bio
Sabrina York is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of more than twenty hot, humorous written works. Her stories range from sweet and sexy to scorching erotic romance. Visit her webpage to check out her books, excerpts and contests, and download a free teaser book filled with excerpts and reviews for her work.
Author Links
Website: http://sabrinayork.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SabrinaYorkBooks
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sabrina_york
Buy Links
http://smpromance.com/historical/the-highlander-is-all-that/
Excerpt:
Ach. This was going to be difficult, Hamish thought as the disgruntled butler and young footman—who carried their bags—led them up the sprawling staircase to their rooms, which, for some reason, were at the far end of the east wing, a portion of the mansion that was apparently very rarely used.
And by difficult, he did not refer to the mission the duke had given them. Not even to an unwanted visit to London.
But her.
He hadn’t expected to be this attracted to one of his charges, and it had hit him like an anvil.
It had been all he could do to maintain a placid demeanor. To not stare.
But damn, she was beautiful.
They all were, the St. Claire sisters. Anne was tall and willowy with serene brown eyes, and Victoria sparkled like a diamond. Even wee Mary was a beauty.
But Elizabeth?
She took his breath away.
Small and elegant with a spritely smile and bouncing black curls, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on.
It was a damn shame he was here to help find her a husband.
It was a damn shame she was the duke’s cousin.
It was a damn shame he wasn’t rich.
He had nothing to offer a girl like her. He had no business even thinking about her like that.
But damn, she was beautiful.
“Well, what do you think?” Ranald asked after the butler had unceremoniously shown them to their rooms. They stood by his window and stared out at the gray London sky.
“Hmm?”
“How long do you think it will be before we can go back home?”
Hamish made a face. “The season is three months.”
“But if we get them all married off, our work is done. I say, having had a look at them, it shouldna take long.” He fingered the hem of the curtain. “That one is quite a stunner.”
Something in Hamish’s gut clenched. He had nothing to offer Elizabeth, but Ranald did. His friend had a title and the majority share in the business they ran with some of their friends. While the duke might balk at having Hamish wed his cousin, Ranald would be welcomed with open arms.
The thought made him want to pummel something.
Probably Ranald.
“They’re all lovely,” he grumbled.
“Aye. But Anne is exquisite.”
Anne?
Anne?
Relief gushed through him. He had no idea why. “Och. Aye. That she is.”
“Of course, they are all verra lovely.”
“Aye.”
“We’ll probably have to be beating off suitors with a bat.”
They grinned at each other. Whacking Englishmen was always a pleasant proposition.
Tracy’s Review:
The Highlander Is All That by Sabrina YorkTracy’s rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is the much awaited follow up to the novella “The Scot Says I Do” in Say Yes to the Scot: A Highland Wedding Box Set in which we met the St. Claire sisters. This book not only brings back her Untamed Highlanders, but also several of the characters from her Noble Passions series.
The primary hero/heroine in this book are Elizabeth St. Claire and Hamish Robb, but there is a very strong secondary romance between Anne St. Claire and Ranald Gunn, Baron of Bower, as well as secondary-secondary romances for the two younger sisters, Victoria and Mary.
Elizabeth and her sisters are cousins to the Duke of Caithness and he has generously financed their season and given them dowries, but since his wife Lana is expecting their first child, he sends Hamish and Ranald to London to watch over them in his stead. Their chaperone Lady Esmerelda, is disappointed that the duke is not going join them, but decides that having two handsome highlanders around could be used to their advantage. Lady Esmerelda is on a mission and nothing will stop her from finding husbands for the St. Claire girls!
Elizabeth already has a suitor when the book opens, Lord Twiggenberry (OMG – I still crack up over that name), and as much as she knows he would be a good match, she really doesn’t like him (or the pomade he uses), she hopes for a love match and preferably with a Scotsman, so when she meets Hamish for the first time – it is like an answer to all her prayers. Hamish is equally taken with Elizabeth, but doesn’t feel like he has anything to offer her and tries to quash his desire for her.
The story that ensues is a very amusing tale complete with kidnappings, runaway marriages, an Almack’s patroness with wandering hands, stinky suitors and a second chance at love. Yup, this story has something for everyone – laugh out loud moments, heart wrenching moments, steamy moments, lots of cameos and finally several HEAs!
This book could easily be read as a stand alone title but once you read it, you are going to want to read the Untamed Highlander and the Noble Passion series just to find out what you missed!!
I highly recommend this book and am looking forward to next generation of highland heroines!
*I am voluntarily leaving a review for an eARC that was provided to me by NetGalley and the publisher*
Blog Tour! The Duke Of Danger by Darcy Burke
Giveaway
Book Blurb
Barb’s Review
Excerpt
Other Books In Series
Meet The Author
Giveaway Info:
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About The Book:
After killing his opponent in a duel, Lionel Maitland, Marquess of Axbridge, is known as the Duke of Danger. Tortured by guilt, he shields himself with a devil-may-care attitude. However, when he kills another man in another duel, he’s beyond redemption, even though it wasn’t his fault. He refuses to smear a dead man’s name, especially when he’s left behind a blameless widow who doesn’t deserve an even bigger scandal.
Widowed and destitute, Lady Emmaline Townsend must marry the man of her parents’ choosing or beg unsympathetic relatives for support. The only way out is to ask for help from the one man she’s sworn to hate, the man who owes her anything she asks, the man who killed her husband. They strike a devil’s bargain in which passion simmers just beneath the surface. But her dead husband’s transgressions come back to haunt them and threaten their chance at love.
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Barbara’s Review
Series: The Untouchables #6
Publication Date: 9/26/17
Barbara’s Rating – 4 of 5 stars
Oh, my. I think I am in love – with Lionel Maitland, Marquess of Axbridge (Duke of Danger). Yes, he has fought in three duels ending in two deaths, but the duels were fought for honorable reasons. They were fought to avenge the death of his father, to protect a child and to protect a friend and her child. What else was he to do when the miscreants wouldn’t stop, back down or apologize? He always tried everything he could to avoid the duels, but in the end, they couldn’t be stopped. Lionel is really a very sweet, very loving, very loyal, but extraordinarily honorable man. Another thing I liked about him – he came from a very loving family and had a very strong, loving bond with his father. What is not to love?
Lionel is guilt-ridden over the deaths and they haunt him – especially the last one. He’s filled with self-loathing and feels he doesn’t deserve anything good or loving in his life. He is sure anything bad that happens to him is deserved. He is so guilt-ridden that he banishes himself to Ireland after the duel – to pay penance.
The book opens with the scene of the third duel. The opponents are on the field, the path is laid out by the seconds, the count has begun – and – a shot is fired . . . then another . . . .both are wounded . . . one will die . . . . one will suffer. One leaves behind a destitute widow and the other will do all in his power to help her if she will let him.
Eight months later, Emmaline, Lady Townsend is still angry, very, very angry at Lionel. Everything bad in her life over the last few months is because of him. She has planned her revenge very carefully and is ready to execute her plan. However, fate intervenes in the form of her parents. They have arranged a marriage for her to a lecherous older man that she cannot even imagine spending her life with. What will she do? She hurriedly develops a plan because her father is to sign the betrothal contract the next morning and he just told her today. She will force Lionel to marry her – a marriage totally in name only. She will have total autonomy, he will pay the bills and there will be no intimacy of any kind and no children.
I certainly didn’t warm up to Emmaline as quickly as I did to Lionel. She didn’t seem to have a lot of self-awareness and blamed others for her problems – mostly Lionel. She had been feeling pressured, by her parents, to marry. So, she elopes with the handsome man who pays attention to her at a house party. She doesn’t know him at all – she romanticized him – but she married him. Then she was surprised when he wasn’t the man she thought he would be. Well – duh! Then, when her parents are arranging her second marriage she has a knee-jerk reaction. Granted, she had little to no time to plan a real escape from her situation, but, what was her first reaction? She’d make Lionel marry her – because he owed her everything.
Lionel is standing in the way of a very dangerous man and that man is determined to remove Lionel from his path – by any means necessary. Will Lionel survive?
Emmaline and Lionel certainly don’t have a very auspicious beginning to their marriage but, if they work together, they can make it a success. Lionel wants that from the beginning but Emmaline wants nothing to do with Lionel and it takes her much longer to figure out that Lionel isn’t the man she thought he was either – but in a much better way than with her first husband. As she discovers who he is – and it starts with a tiny black kitten with jade green eyes – she comes to respect, admire and, yes, love him. However, love may not be enough for them. Being near Emmaline is a constant reminder to Lionel that he killed her husband. He can’t forget it and sometimes he can’t be near her because of it.
This is a great read – and I certainly recommend it. However, there were a couple of things that niggled at me as I read.
- The author used the word shagged several times. I know the term came into use in this context in the late 1700’s, but it just sounded too modern to me. The author did nothing wrong there – it was all me. I just didn’t care for it.
- When Lionel was challenged to a duel by Sir Duncan, it was Sir Duncan who chose the weapons, time and place. I believe it was the right of the person challenged to choose the weapon, not the challenger.
- When Emmaline has a need to use Lionel’s dueling pistols, she manages to do it in the dark, in the room with a murderer and very quietly. I don’t believe that dueling pistols would have been stored loaded. That would mean that she had to pack, prime and load the pistol in the dark without making a sound. Just doesn’t sound plausible to me.
None of those things kept me from enjoying the story – they just sort of picked at me.
“I requested and received this e-book at no cost to me and volunteered to read it; my review is my honest opinion and given without any influence by the author or publisher.”
Excerpt:
At last, he heard footsteps. The latch clicked, and the door opened. Lady Townsend quickly stepped inside, closing the door firmly behind her.
She took in the small space and positioned herself as far away from him as possible. That still only allowed maybe four feet between them. “This is rather close.”
He straightened to his full height, pushing off the shelves behind his back. “It’s also out of the way.”
She elevated her chin. “I suppose it is.”
“Forgive me, but I’ve been trying to reason why you’d want to marry me, and I’m afraid I’ve come up with absolutely nothing.”
“I admit it’s a severe plan, but I’m at my wit’s end. I’m destined for a marriage I don’t want, and it’s all your fault. You did say you would do anything to help me. Didn’t you mean that?”
“Of course I did. I’m a man of honor, for better or for worse.” Often for worse, it seemed.
She looked away from him, her jaw tightening. When her gaze found his once more, her eyes were fire and ice, a mixture of hot anger and frigid determination. “Your honor has definitely been worse for me. Which is why I am seeking your help—you owe me.”
“I do.”
“Yes, and I’d planned to demand money to settle Geoffrey’s debts. After I gave you the cut direct. Which I didn’t get to do.” She folded her arms across her chest, and he felt her frustration fill the small space. “Things are not going the way I’d planned.”
“I’m sorry things aren’t progressing as you wanted.” His chest squeezed, and he fought to take a breath. “Your life isn’t at all what you’d expected it would be, and that’s entirely my fault,” he said quietly. “I will give you the money you need and anything else you require.”
“Anything. Yes, you said that last summer too.” Her gaze locked onto his. “My parents have decided I should marry someone I don’t want to. They have already set things in motion. I need you to marry me instead.”
“Forgive me, Lady Townsend, but I find it difficult to comprehend there is anyone you’d rather marry less than me.”
She laughed, a dark, hollow sound that made his guts twist. “Yes, I can see why you’d think that, and if we were to have a true marriage, it would likely be accurate. However, to save me from marrying Sir Duncan, we will wed, and it will be a marriage of utter convenience—for me. I shall be independent to do as I please, you will provide me with ample pin money, and there will be absolutely no intimacy.”
“You want me to accept an agreement of marriage in which I have no children, not even an heir?”
Her icy gaze didn’t waver. “Yes.”
Bloodiest of hells. How could he possibly agree to that? He had a responsibility to his title, his family. Yes, there was someone—his second cousin’s son—who could inherit, but that wasn’t the point. His father, if he were still alive, would be devastated to think that Lionel would trade away their legacy in such a fashion.
And yet…he owed her. He’d promised her. And if he was nothing else, he was, above all, a man of honor.
Other books in the series:
Meet the Author:
Darcy Burke is the USA Today Bestselling Author of hot, action-packed historical and sexy, emotional contemporary romance. A native Oregonian, Darcy lives on the edge of wine country with her guitar-strumming husband, their two hilarious kids who seem to have inherited the writing gene, and three Bengal cats. Visit Darcy online at www.darcyburke.com and sign up for her newsletter, follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/darcyburke, or like her Facebook page, www.facebook.com/DarcyBurkeFans.
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